(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus for example, copiers, printers etc., and more particularly the invention is directed to a device for mounting and demounting a waste-toner collecting container for holding waste toner.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
A typical copier using toner, has a waste-toner collecting container for holding residual toner which, without being transferred to a copy paper, is collected in the image forming process. When the amount of held toner in the waste-toner collecting container of this kind is designed to be small in order to make the whole apparatus small and light-weight, the container will fill soon and require frequent maintenance such as replacement of the container etc. To avoid this, the container should be designed to have a certain holding amount or more.
As a conventional example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Hei 4 No.134,391 discloses a copier which has a waste-toner collecting container with an adequate collecting amount and does neither interfere with other device units nor deteriorate maintenance performance of them. This copier, as shown in FIG. 1, has a collecting container 4 mounted in a space under an electrophotographic processing unit 1 and in the rear of a paper feeding device 2 for conveying fed copy paper (in the lower portion on the backside of a copier body 3). The workability of replacement of the collecting container 4, however, has been a problem in this configuration.
When the copier having such a configuration is constructed so that the collecting container 4 full of waste-toner is demounted from the flank or the backside of the copier body 3, the copier body 3 should be placed in a room spaced from walls of the room or any other obstruction. Therefore, the site of the copier to be placed will be limited. To make matters worse, pre-processing and/or post-processing devices such as a large-capacity paper feeder and a stapling sorter may be equipped on the flank of the copier body 3. In such a case, the pre-processing unit or the post-processing unit must be detached before the collecting container 4 is taken out from the flank of the copier body 3. This markedly complicates the workability of the copier. On the other hand, if the copier is configured so that the collecting container 4 is demounted from the top of the copier body 3, the electrophotographic processing unit 1 etc., disposed over the collecting container 4 should be removed. This configuration also causes troublesome handling.
In order to achieve the best workability, the copier should be constructed so that the collecting container 4 may be demounted from the front side of the copier body. However, since the collecting container 4 is disposed on the backside of the copier body 3; in order to pick out the collecting container 4, the operator must stretch out his hand deep into the inside of the copier through a gap between the paper feeding device 2 and the copier body 3, from the front side. This operation is not only difficult, but also the operator could be injured by edges of metal parts inside the copier body 3 when the operator stretches his hand into the inside of the machine. As described above, in the conventional configurations, a space should be secured for demounting the container; otherwise a highly troublesome, complicated operation is required.